Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Three arrested after allegedly attempting to steal drugs from police station disposal bin

Three people were arrested after allegedly attempting to steal drugs from a police station in Edmond, Oklahoma. The whole thing was caught on camera and it happened inside the Edmond Police station involving the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics prescription disposal bin.

"It takes a lot of guts to come into the lobby of a police department and think you're going to get away with stealing narcotics," explained Jenny Monroe with Edmond Police. The bins are meant for safely getting rid of old prescriptions, but police say Richard Andress, his daughter, Hollie Andress, and her fiancé, Matthew Waller, stole what others had discarded.

Security footage showed the suspects reaching into the bin numerous times and pulling out pills while the records clerk helped other people. What the trio did not know was there are monitors behind the clerk and a jailer was watching the whole time. Hollie Andress did not think she had done anything wrong. "At some point she's reading the box and she told our officers after she was under arrest that it doesn't say anywhere in the fine print that you can't take drugs out of the box," said Monroe.

OBN has 153 drug boxes in police and sheriff's lobbies across the state and spokesman Mark Woodward said they have never had this happen in the three-year history of the bins. "Everyone should know that you're not allowed to come in and take someone else's medication out of a box, especially a state agency," added Monroe. Police said all three suspects are facing felony Larceny of a Controlled Dangerous Substance charges.